Taken
by FeathersMcStrange
Summary: The war between the angels and the rebels has reached a new low, when three year old Castiel and thirteen year old Balthazar are taken, dragged away from Gabriel, screaming. All he has to do is get them back before it's too late.


**Idea given to me by PunkVampy, my lovely twin across the pond. She is amazing and all kinds of awesome (to the bloody Pepsi Max, Alice!). Hope you enjoy this!**

**It's set during a time in Heaven when a group of rebellious angels have teemed together to form an army, rampaging across Heaven and destroying everything in their path.**

**Warning: For pain and blood. Can be seen as a sequel to Safe and Sound, though no knowledge of it is needed to understand this story.**

**By the way: angel years are not 365 days. In this, they are way, way longer than that.**

* * *

Gabriel was dreaming. He had to be. There was no way that what was happening to him right now was anything but a nightmare. He was asleep, and soon he would open his eyes, and run into Balthazar and Castiel's rooms, wake them up and clutch them close, without an explanation, because he could.

But no, this wasn't a dream. It was happening, and Gabriel was terrified.

He was standing in a smoking, trampled field, restrained by a couple angelic soldiers, members of the rebel army. Gabriel was being forced to watch as his baby brothers were being dragged away from him, screaming and crying, begging him to save them.

"Gabriel, help us, please!" three year old Cas shrieked, tears steaming down his innocent little face. He was held tightly in Balthazar's arms, while the thirteen year old was roughly yanked away from his big brother. Balthazar wished that Castiel was anywhere but here. He was a toddler, naive and loving, who liked to watch butterflies and listen to Gabriel tell him stories. He didn't deserve this.

"Castiel! Balthazar!" Gabriel yelled in anguish, blood streaming from a cut on his forehead and battered body straining against the hands holding him back. He wanted to run as fast as he possibly could, to rush over to his charges and wrap them in his wings, shelter them from the world and never let them go.

A heavy, metal club came down on his head, leaving Gabriel lying in the bloodstained, soot dusted grass. When he woke up, Castiel and Balthazar were gone.

* * *

Castiel was scared.

He didn't know who these angels were, but they had taken him and Balthazar from Gabriel, dragged them away and locked them in a small, dingy, underground room. His big brother's arms were wrapped around him, and he had his tiny face buried in the crook of his neck.

"Shh, shh," the teenager soothed, a palm resting on the back of his head, fingers lightly tangled in the toddler's hair. "It's okay Cassy, I'm gonna protect you. They're not going to hurt you, brother, I promise."

"Wa's hap'ning?" asked Castiel, closing his eyes and letting his tears fall on the skin of Balthazar's neck. "I'm scarded, Balthy. Wheres is Gabe?"

"I don't know, kid. But Gabriel will come get us soon enough, and we'll be alright. I won't let them lay a single finger on you." Just then the door banged open, three of the more imposing members of the rebellion standing in the doorway.

"You, fledgling, the boss wants a word with you. Get your ass off the ground and come with us.," one of them said. Balthazar put Castiel on the ground and shoved him back, placing himself between the small child and the rogue angels.

"Don't you dare touch him," he growled, feeling tiny fingers clench in his pant leg. The angel in the doorway laughed, stalking over and roughly grabbing Balthazar's arm. Castiel screamed loudly, wrapping both his short arms around his brother's legs.

"Don't leave me, Balth'zar, please!" he cried, trembling and holding onto him as hard as he could. One of the other rebels tore him away, pushing Castiel to the side. The little boy fell, hitting his head against the wall and falling to the floor.

"Cas!" Balthazar yelled, struggling against their captors as he was dragged away, the door slamming behind him. Castiel was left sitting on the floor, knees to his chest, back shaking with sobs and blood trickling from a cut on his forehead. He wanted Gabriel and Balthazar to come back, to make the mean angels to away and leave them alone. He wanted Balthazar to tell him funny jokes, and Gabriel to sing to him. But most of all, little Castiel just wanted his brothers back.

* * *

"You will join us, Balthazar, fledgling charge of the archangel Gabriel. You will join us, or you will die." The voice was that of Katatron, leader of the rebel army. He was large, fearsome, and almost as old as the archangels themselves. The love of power had corrupted his mind, and he had started the crusades across Heaven, massacring and torching everything in his path.

Right now Katatron was attempting to... persuade Balthazar to join him, they needed young recruits they could train, using barbaric and cruel methods. The teenaged angel lay on the floor, blood soaked white wings splayed out to either side of him. Bruises and cuts littered his skin, but still Balthazar stared defiantly up at him.

"Never," he spat, the fire in his eyes untamed.

"Very well then. Your execution will take place in the morning. I think your baby brother - what is it, Castiel? - would like to be there, don't you? I'm going to enjoy the show." Katatron laughed loudly, stabbing a sword down and piercing Balthazar's left wing. The angel screamed, pain burning like fire through every inch of him. The long, sadistic laugh echoed around him as he was thrown back in the dark little room, bloodstained feathers fluttering to the ground around him.

"Balth'zar?" asked Castiel, raising his face from his knees. He crawled over to where his brother was slowly sitting up, leaning against the wall behind him. Castiel climbed onto Balthazar's lap, little fists clutching his ripped shirt and burying his face in the thirteen year old's chest.

"Did they hurted you bad, Balthy?" he asked, snuggling close and curling up against him. Balthazar closed his weary, battered arms about the toddler, closing his bloodied wings around them both.

"I'm okay, kiddo. I'll be alright, please don't cry, Cassy." But still tears continued fall from Castiel's big blue eyes.

Quietly, in a voice that was cracked and hoarse from screaming, the older seraph began to sing to his baby brother. He sang the little lullaby that Gabriel used to sing for him, and soon enough the small child in his arms stopped crying.

"I love you, little brother," the boy murmured, for what he was sure would be the last time.

And all through the night Balthazar held the baby, rocking him and singing. He held him tight, for as long as he could, until the angels keeping them captive came and ripped Castiel once more from his arms, leading him towards his death.

* * *

Gabriel flew as fast as he could, a blade in each hand, and a fleet of angels around him. He had rallied them to lay siege to the rebel army's base, where he was sure his little brothers were being held. The group of angels was comprised of those who had lost fledglings, hatchlings, children, teens, adults... Sisters, brothers... Family. Those who, like Gabriel, did not want Heaven to be tainted any longer.

They flew together, giant wings outlined against the morning sky. Every angel in that group had a common goal. Bring down the renegades, and get Balthazar and Castiel back safely to their mentor and protector.

Gabriel was the first to breech the camp, storming in and seeing the most terrifying sight he had ever bore witness to in his long life.

There was a thin, beaten teen standing in the center of a circle, a black fabric hood over his head hiding his face. But despite the hood, Gabriel knew exactly who it was. The toddler on the side, restrained by one of the rebels, screaming a name over and over again only confirmed his suspicions.

"Balthazar!" Little Castiel's voice was terror stricken and tearful, ripping Gabriel's heart into even more pieces than it was already in. That did it.

The archangel raised his sword, killing the first rebel that got in his way. Just barely reaching Balthazar in time to catch him as the fledgling passed out, Gabriel hooked one arm beneath his knees, scooping his little brother up and looking around for Castiel. He saw that an angel named Miyael, who had lost a hatchling named Serabeth to the raids the week previously, already had him and was taking off for safety. Now that he knew Cas was safe with Miyael and Balthazar was safe in his hold, Gabriel could get the Hell out of there.

And he did.

* * *

Later on, when all three of them were enclosed and hidden inside one of Raphael's healing houses, Gabriel felt almost numb. Like none of it had happened.

Except Castiel, curled up on his lap and refusing to let go of his shirt, and Balthazar, unconscious with one of Gabriel's arms across his shoulders served as a constant reminder that it had been far too real. It was real, it had happened, and Gabriel, for some reason, was still so incredibly afraid.

He never wanted either of them taken from him again.


End file.
